New York Man Admits Role In Defrauding Banks In $3.5 Million 'Shotgun' Loan Scheme
NEWARK, N.J. – A Bronx, New York, man today admitted participating in a conspiracy to carry out a $3.5 million scheme to use bogus information and simultaneous loan applications at multiple banks to fraudulently obtain home equity lines of credit, a practice known as “shotgunning,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Saoud “Sam” Rihan, 59, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to an indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:
Rihan was a business partner of Simon Curanaj, 65, of Yonkers, New York. From 2012 through January 2014, Rihan, Curanaj, and others conspired to fraudulently obtain multiple home equity lines of credit (HELOC) from banks on residential properties in New Jersey and New York.
In 2013, Rihan and Curanaj executed a deed to transfer ownership of a Bronx property to people identified in the complaint as “Individual 1” and “Individual 2,” neither of whom lived at the property. Rihan offered Individuals 1 and 2 $10,000 cash payments for acting as straw borrowers but never paid them. Rihan and Curanaj then applied for three HELOCs valued at $750,000 from multiple banks in the name of Individual 2.
Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/new-york-man-admits-role-defrauding-banks-35-million-shotgun-loan-scheme-0